''Ceremony of Opposites'' is the third album by

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band

Samael Samael ( he, סַמָּאֵל, ''Sammāʾēl'', "Venom/Poison of God"; ar, سمسمائيل, ''Samsama'il'' or ar, سمائل, label=none, ''Samail''; alternatively Smal, Smil, Samil, or Samiel) is an archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic ...

. This is their second release with

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...

after leaving French label

Osmose Productions Osmose Productions is a French independent record label created in 1991 by Hervé Herbaut, after he had spent three years running a small mail order company. They specialize mainly in death and black metal bands. Many of the groups who began wit ...

. Although the band's subject matter was similar to previous releases (references to

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...

Satanism Satanism is a group of ideological and philosophical beliefs based on Satan. Contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of the atheistic Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States in 1966, although a few hi ...

and

blasphemy Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...

), it also showed their first signs of interest in

industrial music Industrial music is a genre of music that draws on harsh, mechanical, transgressive or provocative sounds and themes. AllMusic defines industrial music as the "most abrasive and aggressive fusion of rock and electronic music" that was "initiall ...

, a direction that they would take on future albums. It was produced by Waldemar Sorychta, who also worked on recordings by

Lacuna Coil Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band from Milan. Since their formation in 1994, the group has had two name changes, being previously known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal, and they have recorded nine studio albums, two extended plays, two ...

Tiamat In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( akk, or , grc, Θαλάττη, Thaláttē) is a primordial goddess of the sea, mating with Abzû, the god of the groundwater, to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial creati ...

Moonspell Moonspell is a Portuguese gothic metal band formed in 1992. The group released their first EP, ''Under the Moonspell'', in 1994 and followed up with their debut album, '' Wolfheart'', a year later. They quickly became the most recognizable meta ...

and others. In 2005, the album was re-issued with their 1995 ''

Rebellion Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

'' EP.

Critical reception

Upon release, ''Ceremony of Opposites'' was met with universal acclaim by both music critics and band's fans. In 2005, ''Ceremony of Opposites'' was ranked number 284 in ''

Rock Hard "Rock Hard" is a single by the Beastie Boys, released by Def Jam Records on 12" in 1984. The track contains samples from the AC/DC song "Back in Black", which was used without obtaining legal permission, causing the record to be withdraw ...

'' magazine's book of ''The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time''.

Track listing

All tracks by

Vorph Michael Locher (born 7 January 1969), also known as Vorphalack or simply Vorph, is a Swiss musician who provides vocals and is a guitarist for the industrial/black metal band Samael. Biography Locher was born in Sion. He co-founded Samael in ...

and Xy. # "Black Trip" – 3:19 # "Celebration of the Fourth" – 2:53 # "Son of Earth" – 3:58 # "'Till We Meet Again" – 4:11 # "Mask of the Red Death" – 3:04 # "Baphomet's Throne" – 3:30 # "Flagellation" – 3:41 # "Crown" – 4:06 # "To Our Martyrs" – 2:37 # "Ceremony of Opposites" – 4:39

Personnel

* Vorph – guitar, vocals, arranger * Masmiseim – bass * Xy – drums, arranger * Rodolphe H. – keyboards, samplers * Carsten Otterbach – artwork * Mussorgsky/Ravel – sampling * Waldemar Sorychta – producer, engineer, mixing * Siggi Bemm – assistant engineer

References

1994 albums Samael (band) albums Century Media Records albums Albums produced by Waldemar Sorychta {{1990s-black-metal-album-stub